MSc International Marketing

This class provides you with an understanding of strategies for selecting, entering, developing and leaving international markets. This covers motivations for internationalisation, market selection decisions, market entry modes and market divestment, considering small, medium and large firms. The theoretical context of international business underpins class discussions.

By the end of the class you'll have a grasp of the main theories of international marketing, and be able to apply these to support decision making and strategy in foreign market entry and development.

This class explores central consumer behaviour theories in a cross-cultural perspective. You will develop an understanding of the importance of culture. Marketers increasingly operate in global and multicultural contexts, and the key to managing this is a thorough understanding of both the similarities and differences in consumer needs and desires across different cultures.

By the end of the class, you'll have an understanding of consumer behaviour theory and research that is sensitive to cultural dynamics, which is critical for any international marketing strategy.

This class provides you with practical skills required to design and lead research in marketing. This builds on the need to understand the market, competitors and customers and the role of secondary, qualitative and quantitative research in doing so. Underpinned by the Marketing Research process, students will move through problem formulation, research design, data collection, data analysis and presentation of findings.

By the end of the class, you should be able to utilise a range of traditional and digital data collection methods to address marketing problems, devise solutions and assess outcomes.

This class provides a detailed understanding of brand theory and application of key brand strategies. Class content is rich in branding theory, and you'll put the theory to practice applying key branding applications to major global brands. You'll gain a clear appreciation of the role of brand strategy within the corporation’s operating plan. This will entail consideration of environmental factors causing changes to the structure and composition of the brand portfolio as well as discussion of conceptual issues surrounding the strategic roles of brand management.

By the end of the class, you'll have the skills required to manage effectively in a global brand environment.

This class explores sustainability and the role of marketing in society as an agent of change. Marketing has a substantial role to play in tackling the biggest challenges in our society, and in particular, driving societal discourse and market change towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A number of different techniques are explored to identify and exploit vectors for change through different approaches to understanding market systems, targeting key stakeholders to drive change, and marketing tactics for reshaping market, organisational and consumer behaviour.

By the end of the class you should be equipped to challenge marketing roles, particularly around product – service development, business models, positioning and communication, to engage in greater levels of sustainability.

This class is taken alongside core marketing classes, supporting you to develop skills associated with academic writing, presentations, group work and research needed to complete a postgraduate programme. This responds to feedback from industry that emphasises the need for high standards of performance in skills and business practices. It also supports the more conceptual learning in marketing, as well as developing the potential of our graduates to become senior business managers who work in global markets.

This class presents destination as the core element of tourism supply. We define destination in spatial as well as cultural/symbolic terms, and explore a wide variety of sectors such as hospitality, the built and natural environments, cultural heritage, entertainment, sport and retailing. This provides opportunity to consider the diverse nature of the destination and lack of central ‘control’, that implies quite specific challenges and responses in its management and marketing.

By the end of this class, you'll be equipped with the skills necessary to respond to changes and challenges in destination marketing.

This class provides an introduction to the structure and management of individual tourism organisations and attraction resources in the private, public and third sectors. This covers key industries involved in the distribution of tourism products, facilitation of tourist transport and accommodation, and sustainable management of key resources at destination level.

By the end of the class, you'll recognise the important roles of tourism managers and consumers in the co-creation of products, services and experiences, allowing you to engage in the challenging management environment where tourism is produced and consumed.

This class emphasises the need to adopt a different approach when marketing services rather than products. Services represent more than a quarter of all world trade and the world market for services is growing at more than twice the rate of the product sector. Many companies producing products are turning to service to provide their differentiation.

By the end of this class, you'll recognise that services present unique challenges. Understanding this will enable you to build customer relationships through quality service, which is fundamental to marketing success in every organisation.

This module recognises that generating and delivering value for the B2B customer is key in developing a competitive advantage. The module covers the B2B Market environment, supplier selection and management, organisational buying behaviour, and B2B customers, exploring the ‘portfolio’ approach to managing relationships with key accounts and customers for strategic goals. This brings to the fore the significance of B2B sectors, as business exchanges account for more than 60% of all transactions taking place in any given economy.

By the end of the module, you'll understand the unique and distinctive characteristics of B2B selling and supplying while maintaining a mutually beneficial and ongoing relationship. This is important as many marketing graduates will likely work with B2B suppliers.

This class is designed to build on the Cross-Cultural Buyer Behaviours class by developing in-depth knowledge of current thinking in the discipline and by analysing a range of contemporary consumer contexts.

The major premise of this class is that customer relationships are in a period of rapid change: digital technologies, including the Internet, e-commerce and social media platforms, are moving the balance of power in relationships through customer engagement to a ‘customer led’ phase. You'll be exposed to a synthesis of well-established digital marketing theories and the most recent academic research on e-marketing.

By the end of this class, you will have had hands-on experience in the use of digital technologies for marketing purposes. This will develop your knowledge and skills-based expertise in planning, implementing and managing successful e-marketing strategies.

This class covers the key strategic and operational aspects of export marketing. It situates export marketing within the wider spectrum of foreign market entry modes and justifies the selection of export modes from amongst a wider range of options. You'll build knowledge and understanding of a variety of driving forces behind selecting export modes and gain a better understanding of the international dynamics that influence companies export performance in different sociocultural contexts.

By the end of the class, you'll be able to prepare export marketing plans, building on readiness to export, operating conditions, behaviour and export strategy.

This class will explore relevant marketing communications theories, consider the role and purpose of marketing communications, critically review constituent components of the marketing communications mix and consider how marketing communication tools are used in practice. The role of Marketing Communications in bridging the gap between an organisation and its many stakeholders and providing a face voice for organisations will be emphasised. In particular, the class will consider the need for and management of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).

By the end of the class, you'll be able to identify factors that impact upon the selection, implementation and evaluation of effective IMC and use this to develop communications strategy. This is an exciting, vibrant and contemporary topic that can contribute to laying the foundations for future careers in marketing.

This class explores the marketing of cultural and heritage as ‘resources’ in a global context. You'll be introduced to the essential dimensions of culture, heritage and the arts as resources for many types of organisations, both private and public sector, in activities such as tourism, festivals and events, community redevelopment and corporate branding.

By the end of the class, you'll understand the theoretical and practical dimensions of culture and heritage, which need to be understood by tourism managers if these resources are to be used responsibly and sustainably.

This class assesses the role of retailing within the context of the overall supply chain and within the economy. We look at key operational issues such as store design and layout, location and customer service. The class also focuses on changing trends for retail and how technology has played a role in shaping the retail industry. We place this in the global context, demonstrating how important the retail sector is in driving the global economy.

By the end of the class, you'll be familiar with the various tools and techniques used by retailers and be able to apply these to develop retail strategy in international and global contexts, addressing cultural, social, economic, and legal issues.

The Dissertation offers you an opportunity to study, in depth, a specific area of the MSc of your own interest.

Working individually, you'll be expected to conduct a literature review, develop an appropriate research methodology, undertake empirical research and present findings with implications for international marketing theory and practice. You will be assigned a supervisor from the Department to oversee progress.

The Marketing Works project provides you with a challenging organisation-based, action-learning opportunity to advise a company on a marketing problem or opportunity.

Working in groups, you will consult your client-organisation with the objective of delivering realistic recommendations which, if implemented, could reasonably be expected to help generate strategic marketing plans. You will be expected to consult relevant theory, design and execute appropriate data collection and analysis, and present key outcomes and recommendations to the client. You'll be assigned a supervisor from the Department to oversee progress.